Bangkok bomb blast: Compensation

[Jimlove]

They want to do it this way so Thai Hospitals can still cheat the foreign Insurance Companies by dishing out fake maximum bills ... An insult to the victims but so typical for this country ...

[Neeranam]

Incredibly insulting to injured persons. No way these amounts will cover even 20% of damages and out of pocket expenses for anyone....these injuries should be treated free of charge.

You don't know what you are talking about.

Tourists should have health insurance. Thai hospitals are very cheap . Unless you are a Thai citizen, what rights have you got to comment on the rights of Thais?

[Tonawatchee]

Incredibly insulting to injured persons. No way these amounts will cover even 20% of damages and out of pocket expenses for anyone....these injuries should be treated free of charge.

Get off the grass. This is a generous gesture and entirely in line with what Thai social welfare and medical benefits are. The Thai government isn't to blame for this event and they are under no obligation to have even done this. Now let's talk about whether there were overseas visitors who were victims who did NOT have travel insurance - in this case that's all they will receive, but that's the choice that some people make when they decide not to take out travel insurance ... And when you boil it down why should it be the responsibility of the Thai taxpayer to stand the cost of a foreigner who decided they didn't need or want to pay the travel insurance premium?

I wonder, if this incident had occurred somewhere else, say by a lightning strike on an open grassy field with the same tragic results and not next to the well known Erawan Shrine, would the same monetary compensation be in play?

[silverado]

Incredibly insulting to injured persons. No way these amounts will cover even 20% of damages and out of pocket expenses for anyone....these injuries should be treated free of charge.

You don't know what you are talking about.

Tourists should have health insurance. Thai hospitals are very cheap . Unless you are a Thai citizen, what rights have you got to comment on the rights of Thais?

Travel insurrances NEVER work in case of terrorism !!!!

europ health insurrances doesn't work in thailand and specially NEVER in this case

thai hospitals are NOT always cheap !!! and certainly NOT in special care / surgery (one night in hospital without special care in public hospitals are at least 3.000/4.000 baths

until you are living in a country for long time , spending lot of money , maybe working or paying taxes at least visa fees, you SHOULD have the right to comment...

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT

Edited August 19, 2015 by silverado

[sammygood]

come to thailand, get blown to pieces & die in a cheap low grade governement hospital

[tomyummer]

What happened to 7MB?

[Overcome]

They want to do it this way so Thai Hospitals can still cheat the foreign Insurance Companies by dishing out fake maximum bills ... An insult to the victims but so typical for this country ...

Do you have any evidence of this or is this just a general throwaway comment because you know it must be going on? I expect the latter and the only thing that would be typical of is another farang with preconceived negative attitudes toward Thailand, a willingness to pontificate and act as judge jury and executioner without the need to be aware of the facts, because the facts are irrelevant if your mind is already set.

[manhood]

This government waste billions of bath and they just want to give to the victims pocket money that is just good enough to go around the corner. They don't know how expansive good hospitals are here nowadays!?!??!!??!

Shame on all of you and on that kind of disregard of human dignity!!!!!!

[PM1]

A disgarce great work Mr Paryuth... How are your 20 new boats going

[PM1]

The whole wporld is looking at you PM and what they see is not good or compassionate.. Only GREED and POWER

[tropo]

yeah but before never the tourist get the target

You don't know that tourists were the target or not at this stage. I believe most of the casualties were Thai so why did you come to this conclusion.

We're all just guessing at this stage, but I would say they just chose a busy area to target PEOPLE and weren't too concerned about where they were born.

[tropo]

come to thailand, get blown to pieces & die in a cheap low grade governement hospital

Talk about melodrama. There's more chance you'll have a plane crash on the way over. The odds would be so small you'd get cramp typing out the zeros.

[tropo]

Well, the Tourism Ministry has just confirmed the " quality" tourists it is trying to attract. Those who earn $6 usd per day, spend $20 usd on food and accommodation and who value their life at a whopping $8,500.

And they wonder why the world looks at Thailand as some backwater cess pool.

Is that how the world views Thailand? I wonder if you're wrong...

International tourism rankings suggest Thailand is still popular: 2014: 14th, 2013: 10th. (Last year, 14th despite a military takeover).

I'm sure that Thailand will weather this storm. They've had a bumpy ride for years.

"International tourism rankings suggest Thailand is still popular" : less and less, man... less and less

"sure that Thailand will weather this storm..." me not sure , man me not sure... and thailand will become more and more stormy , i am afraid

It seems people want Thailand to fail..., to the extent they seem to be cheering it on. Thailand will weather this storm just fine. Have a look at Bali, for example, where over 200 lost their lives in a bomb blast in 2002 (I even have a friend who lost a leg in that blast).... People are back to partying there as though it never happened.

There's a lot of drama flying around right now. The impact of this event is being exaggerated. If anything, as a result of this "wake up call", Thailand will actually become safer.

[limirl]

I want to know if the hospitals will ask for your credit card first before they treat you. Isn't that the standard for treating all farang when they end up in the ER in thailand ?

Yes, you are correct. No different to the way local citizens are treated.

If your point is hospitals are run as businesses in Thailand then I agree. But if your point is that we poor farangs get shafted and treated differently in terms of being expected to pay or show proof of ability to pay before being treated at private hospitals then you're wrong.

Try strolling up to a hospital admission desk in the US without a medical insurance card or other proof of ability to pay or make a security deposit and see if you would be treated any differently.

The difference though is that in the USA a hospital must provide "stabilizing care" for a patient with an emergency medical condition. The hospital must screen for the emergency and provide the care without inquiring about your ability to pay. This is the law under the Emergency Treatment and Labor Act, they cannot turn you away if you need emergency care. In Thailand what would they do if you were unconscious and time was of the essence. I wouldn't want to be in this situation they may or may not treat you or just let you linger until they figure out if you can pay or not.

Edited August 22, 2015 by limirl

[Overcome]

I want to know if the hospitals will ask for your credit card first before they treat you. Isn't that the standard for treating all farang when they end up in the ER in thailand ?

Yes, you are correct. No different to the way local citizens are treated.

If your point is hospitals are run as businesses in Thailand then I agree. But if your point is that we poor farangs get shafted and treated differently in terms of being expected to pay or show proof of ability to pay before being treated at private hospitals then you're wrong.

Try strolling up to a hospital admission desk in the US without a medical insurance card or other proof of ability to pay or make a security deposit and see if you would be treated any differently.

The difference though is that in the USA a hospital must provide "stabilizing care" for a patient with an emergency medical condition. The hospital must screen for the emergency and provide the care without inquiring about your ability to pay. This is the law under the Emergency Treatment and Labor Act, they cannot turn you away if you need emergency care. In Thailand what would they do if you were unconscious and time was of the essence. I wouldn't want to be in this situation they may or may not treat you or just let you linger until they figure out if you can pay or not.

I wasn't aware of this so glad you made the point and I stand corrected. I don't know how that compares with Thailand.

[speedtripler]

Simple operation with 1 day overnight at a hospital Sukhumvit soi 3.

110.000 Baht.

Its a big joke, most foreigners should have insurance for Thai people i feel sorry.

Everyone was treated, regardless of whether they had money or not

Of course hospitals don't run for free and requires staff and equipment from other countries so there will be bills

Is nice to see the uninsured don't get into debt over it but government hospitals in Thailand don't pursue unpaid debts anyway as I know someone who was ill and got a expensive operation he couldn't pay for and he was discharged Anyway and the hospital were never paid

[impulse]

Everyone was treated, regardless of whether they had money or not

Of course hospitals don't run for free and requires staff and equipment from other countries so there will be bills

Is nice to see the uninsured don't get into debt over it but government hospitals in Thailand don't pursue unpaid debts anyway as I know someone who was ill and got a expensive operation he couldn't pay for and he was discharged Anyway and the hospital were never paid

But there are also stories in the foreign press about patients whose families need to raise funds to get their loved ones released from a Thai hospital so they can go back home...

In any case, the Thai government is in the best position to make sure the victims are treated fairly, not price gouged, and that their story doesn't stay in the international news for months because of the funds (and remind everyone of the tourist bombings in Thailand). Paying their medical bills to create goodwill and prevent long running nasty stories would be money well spent in a country that depends so much on tourism.

Edited August 23, 2015 by impulse